The present invention relates to a cultivator point assembly including a cultivator point and an adaptor for fixing to a cultivator.
With up to 250 cultivator points per cultivator or airseeder machine, cultivator point performance and reliability is of great concern to farmers. Developments in the area of tillage and seeding machinery have seen cultivator points acquire a wide, wedge-like shape which slices through the ground separating the soil with minimum undesirable turning. Turning of the soil exposes cloddy lumps and mixes straw in with good soil.
A further important consideration is the time and labour spent in changing cultivator points after wearing. Certain types of points require considerable force and encouragement to detach from the tyne, especially if they are caked with mud and straw. It can take one person several hours to change all points on a cultivator.
A major problem with points is that they become loose and can fall off the machine. Generally, cultivator points are either connected to adaptors which are fixed onto a depending cultivator tyne by a bolt or are directly connected to the tyne by some fastening means. Points are more likely to loosen as the machine turns around in a field or when the points are lifted off the ground for transportation to and from a field. As they hang off the tynes the points are subjected to vibrations and random movement resulting from the rough ride of the cultivator vehicle on uneven ground. Consequently, the points are often dislodged from a ground working position and then from the tyne altogether. If the farmer is not aware of this and proceeds to till or sow a field great losses can result in wasted seeds and fertilizer. Time is lost returning to the field to complete the task and crop is lost if the farmer has not realised the ground was not cultivated.
Points which are strapped or press fitted onto the tyne require little impact to detach from the tyne. A rock in the path of the point during operation could force the point upward and cause it to dislodge.
To overcome this problem it has been known to attach the cultivator point to the adaptor by a xe2x80x9ctwist-onxe2x80x9d arrangement. This comprises fitting the point on an adaptor by positioning the point while in a reversed position so that a keyhole of the point receives a flange of the adaptor and rotating the point 180xc2x0 and moving it into a working position. While this arrangement somewhat. reduces the incidence of detaching points, it is not entirely effective as rotation of the point through 180xc2x0 and detachment will still occur with larger vibrational or random forces or with larger ground impacts.
There is therefore a need for a cultivator assembly in which the cultivator point can be quickly and reliably attached to an adaptor on a cultivator.
According to the present invention there is provided a cultivator point assembly including:
an adaptor having a front and a rear end, and intended to be mounted to a cultivator machine at an upper end and having a foot projecting from a lower end;
a cultivator point adapted to be engaged with the adaptor and having a mounting section and a forward ground-working edge;
an aperture in the mounting section which is adapted to receive the foot of the adaptor in a first reversed position, whereafter the cultivator point is rotated 180xc2x0 relative to the adaptor into an intermediate position in which the ground working edge is in a forward facing position relative to the adaptor, and is then moved rearwardly relative to the adaptor into a working position; and
a stop means which in use prevents unintentional detachment of the cultivator point from the adaptor.